THE KINEMATICS OF RESTRAINED FRONT SEAT OCCUPANTS IN FRONTAL CRASHES AS DEDUCED FROM IN-DEPTH CRASH INVESTIGATIONS

Current dummy technology provides only approximate representations of how people in frontal collisions interact with their seat belts and forward structures. Variations in human anthropometry, sitting position, clothing and belt use all introduce a greater range of motions and contacts during the collision. Variations in injury tolerance and susceptibility to many types of soft tissue and bony injuries all lead to a wide range of injury severity outcomes for a particular crash severity. With those problems in mind, this paper aims to examine some aspects of injuries to seat belted car occupants in front impacts. The Birmingham Accident Research Centre (BARC) participates in a study of real-world accidents happening in the Midlands of England. A data base has been established that holds details about vehicle crash performance and occupant injury in accidents from November 1983. More specifically, it is a study of the causes of front seat occupants' injuries, paying particular attention to the frequency with which occupants make contact with the passenger compartment in front of them. Indeed, a fundamental requirement of a restraint system is to prevent the occupant from making forward contact in a frontal collision whilst at the same time applying only tolerable loads to the wearer. It is important that the seat belt can at least perform that function when the occupant's survival space has not been compromised by vehicle deformation. Therefore, it is desirable to monitor the performance of seat belts in real world crashes that have not resulted in any passenger compartment deformation. Normally no such damage occurs in the frontal crash test at 30 mph into the flat barrier. It follows that results from crash test dummies can be validated by observations about people from comparable real-world accidents. (A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E110175.